All across Europe, people are expecting to see a consistency of the decisions that resulted in the annulment of the first round of Romania’s presidential election, MEP Dan Barna of the Save Romania Union (USR) declared on Monday in Strasbourg, commenting on the the Central Electoral Bureau’s rejecting Calin Georgescu’s presidential bid.

Asked if he had discussed the situation created in Romania following the barring of Georgescu’s candidacy with colleagues from the Renew Europe Group or from other political groups, Dan Barna confirmed that he had had a series of contacts on this subject.

„It’s a somehow expected and predictable decision precisely because, at European level, due to a somehow less emotional perspective on the matters compared to how things are perceived at home in Bucharest, people expect to see a consistency of the decisions that determined the annulment of the first presidential round. Everyone I spoke to, except perhaps a few voices from the conservative area, was expecting his decision of the Central Electoral Bureau, and they anticipate the Constitutional Court ruling to be along the same line, of upholding a decision for which certain premises existed, not necessarily very transparent at the initial moment, but which – in the light of the latest revelations, following the discovery of armaments, machine guns, [destabilization] plans and all that – somehow shows that this was more than a zero-cost campaign run by Mr. Georgescu,” Barna told a briefing for Romanian journalists.

Dan Barna, who is Vice-Chair of the EP Renew Group, said that in Calin Georgescu’s campaign „interferences from outside the democratic space are evident and confirmed increasingly more”. „From this perspective, there was no emotion in the European Parliament, because the decision was an expected one,” Barna added.

He went on to note that the Central Electoral Bureau’s Sunday decision „shows that the institutions finally start to function when democracy comes under a dramatic assault.”

„Yesterday’s decision had those ambiguities that triggered a discussion on the substantive and formal components. The reasoning that came later brought the necessary clarification. It is a decision that, I repeat, was necessary and natural in Romania’s current political context,” said the USR MEP.

Asked why the USR representative in the Central Electoral Bureau voted for the registration of Calin Georgescu’s candidacy, Barna replied that it „was rather an uninspired positioning, justified by the strictly formal legal component of the discussion that took place within the BEC, but things then became clear when the reasoning was issued.”

Dan Barna also said that, from what he learned from his USR colleagues, „it was rather a momentary decision, not one taken within a leadership forum” of the party he represents.

The Central Electoral Bureau announced on Sunday evening having rejected the registration of Calin Georgescu’s presidential candidacy. The decision can be appealed at the Constitutional Court within 24 hours.

The MEPs are in Strasbourg for a new plenary session from Monday to Thursday. Financial and military assistance for Ukraine, the upcoming White Paper on the future of European defense, and a support package for advancing the Republic of Moldova’s EU integration are among the main topics on the session’s agenda.

AGERPRES